Daytrader Paradox

A lot of good posts, guys.

Even this week, I traded less than 20 times, but every single time, I entered ONLY when the right setup I was looking for based on my system was there.

It can get pretty "boring" sometimes watching charts after charts, waiting for my setup to show up, but it's all worth it because of high probability of me coming out on top when I sell or cover.

Of course, once you enter a trade, then your system should dictate when to exit. This could be seconds, minutes, or sometimes hours....
 
Quote from FastandFurious:

dave,

I'm in the exact same position as you. Eventhough I may be green in the day, the commissions, ecn fees, and other fees such as software, etc.. really eats up the account slowly. It's true that green does make your confidence level higher, but we have to look at reality. I am looking at pair trading, and that may be something that will help shed some light in our favor in terms of market volitility. I noticed that sizing up on size in trades is a matter of getting use to. Of course, 200 shares a round is twice the profit, but also twice the loss, it takes trades, time, to get comfortable with more size. In the end, commission average is the same.

Can you explain a little more about your trading strategy? I assume that you look for chops, and wait for breakouts. You look for confirmation of S&P Futures (which, in many cases may be the cause of breakouts), but at what point do you really pull the trigger? Do you look at openbook, or just the charts? How about volume?
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Well guys thanks for the posts. My strategy has been to wait for the S&P Futures to make a move and volume to come into the stock. I trade stocks that usually mimic the Futures like AAPL, SNDK, BRCM, AKAM, etc. If I get an above average volume bar then I will enter along with Level 2 speeding up. I find that I get out of trade way to fast and watch as the stock goes on to make a more substantial move counting what I could have made, lol. I seem to be getting more confident as my number of winning trades outnumbers my losing trades by more than 65%. I am beginning to hold on longer and pay attention to the relationship of the stock to its moving averages. I usually end up with just a small profit and by the time commissions, slippage, ECN fees, SEC fees, and misc. fees are taken out I am out close to $75 or more. I am just churning my account.
I have been doing some reading and I think that it is time to come up with a different strategy whether it be different patterns such as cup-w-handle, double-bottom, bull flags, etc in order to enter a trade. I use Cama pivot points which seem to be fairly reliable for a stocks target once there is no more support/resistance in sight. If not I will consult a daily chart. I keep a trading journal and at each day's end I will go over each trade and find out what I am doing right and wrong and try to learn from it. To be honest with you and myself it seems to be psychological issues that are holding me up whether it be trading just to trade or fear of losing. I find that I tense up when I am down quite a bit and have to win just to bring myself back to even. I am beginning to write a strict entry and exit plan so I will start asking myself, why I am entering this trade? I also found out that I was not paying much attention to a risk to reward plan and just entering to obtain a few cents. I use a very tight stop when scalping so if trade does not immediately go my way I exit the trade so my maximum loss is about .10. Thanks to all of those who posted and gave their advice. I think that getting advice from others helps one substantially. "A problem shared is a problem solved". Thanks again and feel free to critique what I have posted.
Traderdave72
 
Quote from jkortman:

I've done pretty well scalping, but it will burn you out. Sometimes your style of trading changes without you realizing it. However, you have to do what's best in your ability to make money. Every quarter you should look at yourself and figure out where you need to make improvements.
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I find scalping pretty hard, especially with hybrid. Are you still scalping? How do you find hybrid?
 
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